Mission set for Greytown duo

As if the cottage itself was not beautiful enough, the inside of Chestnut Cottage in Greytown is a little girl's dream, with dolls' houses everywhere and tiny furniture tucked away in ornate cabinets.
Five years ago, after designing and building the cottage, Viv Wilson and wife Rosie received a flyer for a dolls' house convention and decided to go.
"After that, we decided that's what we're going to do: We're going to make dolls' houses, so Rosie designs them and I build them."
Viv moved to New Zealand from England aged 7, and although a lot of the miniatures and kit set dolls' houses come from there as well as Australia and America, he has not been back.
"Dolls' houses are huge over in England, so we get a lot of different things from there. I would like to go back one day and see it all for myself."
The houses and in cabinets contain the usual beds, couches, tables and chairs. But if you look closer, every detail is taken care of from lawn mowers and pool tables to musical instruments and bowls of fruit.
"The furniture is all from England, Australia and America, and there's 25,000 items you can get. Everything is one-twelfth scale and you can get all sorts of things like cakes and punch bowls - you name it, we can get it."
The houses even have lights, and Viv is working on installing electricity in one.
"The lady who brought it in had it for 14 years so I'm slowly doing it up and putting in some lights for her."
As well as the dolls' houses Rosie has designed and Viv has made from scratch, Chestnut Cottage also sells kit sets Le Toy dolls houses that children can take apart and pack away, and Sylvanian toys.
"People love the Sylvanian toys. One time someone drove past and I heard tyres screeching as they turned around just to come in and have a look at the Sylvanian toys.
"I'm known from Whangarei to Dunedin for my Sylvanian range and the good prices I sell them for."
When Viv is not building dolls' houses, he's busy doing fretwork for builders renovating old houses, making sample boxes for Schoc Chocolate, and working on his own house, next door to the cottage.
"We're planning on moving the shop next door and turning the cottage into a homestay. I'm also slowly doing up our house, which is coming along well."
Greytown's newest homestay will feature two bedrooms with an ensuite each, a new kitchen and a wraparound porch for sunny morning breakfasts.
"We've got big plans for this place."